Sexual Assault Awareness Month features ‘The Purity Myth’ screening

The provocative film “The Purity Myth” will be screened in conjunction with a panelist presentation in the Alkek Teaching Theater at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, at Texas State University-San Marcos.

The event will be held in observance of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month to foster a healthy discussion of feminism and our culture of rape myth acceptance.

In this adaptation of her bestselling book, Jessica Valenti examines "the virginity movement," an alliance of political and religious conservatives who have been exploiting women's sexuality to roll back women's rights. Valenti identifies a single, unifying assumption: the myth that the worth of a woman depends on what she does--or does not do--sexually. In the end, Valenti argues that the health and well-being of women are too important to be left to ideologues.

According to a 2003 study conducted by the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault and the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work, nearly two million Texans have been sexually assaulted. That equals 1-in-5 women and 1-in-20 men in the state. Unfortunately, fewer than 20 percent of sexual assaults are ever reported to police.

This event is sponsored by the HealthyCats Health Promotion Services Office from the Student Health Center at Texas State with support from the Hays Caldwell Women’s Center.

For more information, visit www.healthcenter.txstate.edu/healthycats or contact the HealthyCats office at healthycats@txstate.edu or (512) 245-9289. Anyone requiring disability accommodation (information in alternate format, sign language interpreting) should contact Kelly Stone at (512) 245-9289. Accommodation requests should be made at least 72 hours in advance of the program start time to ensure availability.